Bangkok Part1: Leaving Seam Reap we was lucky and had managed to get a last minute bus departing at 11:30am to Thailand! Our last land border crossing, yay!
Arriving in Bangkok we were dropped off in the middle of this absolutely mega huge city with instructions from the bus driver, that if we wanted to reach our hotel then we would have to get the skytrain. Not really having a clue which station our hotel was located at we set off in hope that we would board the correct train and get off at the correct station. Finding the right train was difficult enough as the minibus had dropped us off at a station where three different lines connect. That and not knowing which line to get on we asked at four different ticket booths before we was eventually given the correct information and we headed towards the correct line. Getting extremely hot, tired, stressed and sore (as the strap broke on my small rucksack which meant I had twenty kilos on my back and then ten kilos on the front dangling off one shoulder instead of two), we finally boarded the crowded train. Luckily getting off the train the hotel was just across the road from the station. Finally at 8pm at night we checked in and headed for some tea in the hotel restaurant.
The morning arrived and we wrote a list of things we needed to achieve for the day. First on the list was to visit the beautiful Grand Palace. I remembered visiting this the first time In Bangkok five years ago. However as Jonathan had gotten paralytically drunk the first time round he missed the whole city tour which I did on my own and spent the day with alcoholic poisoning in bed. Knowing that this is the most impressive building I have ever seen I was desperate for Jonathan to see it also. It was just as magnificent as I remembered and although the entrance fee had risen dramatically it was still worth the look (£10 per person!!!). Huge ornate buildings made out of gold, mosaics, coloured glass and bits of mirror... there is not one building that doesn't take your breath away. The grand palace is absolutely amazing! Jonathan was even so impressed by it that he didn't moan at all about how much the entrance ticket cost us! Wandering around the different sections of the palace takes you a couple of hours and as you have to be covered from neck to ankles we was extremely hot in the baking sun. Finishing our tour we headed to the nearest air conditioned cafe for a spot of lunch before our stroll along the riverfront to take in the views of some more temples. Hoping in a TukTuk we decided to spend the last few hours of the day at the MBK centre; A huge shopping mall where you can buy just about anything. There are seven different levels in this shopping mall and each one has a different shopping theme, finishing off with a Cinema and bowling Alley at the top. One floor was made up of hundreds of jewellery stalls, another floor of hundreds of ipod stalls and another of lots of clothes stalls. It makes you wonder how any of the stalls make money as they all sell exactly the same things! Jonathan immediately spotted the Muay Thai boxing stalls on one floor so of course we came away with extremely lighter pockets and with a set of boxing gloves, shorts, hand wraps and other fighting accessories.
We had also read that Muay Thai fight night started at 6pm that night; Live fighting in a huge ring set up just outside the shopping centre on the street that was free to watch sounded like a great end to our day. Watching about 4 fights we then headed back to the hotel on the skytrain.
Looking at the price difference in getting to Phuket, a bus ticket was the same price as a plane ticket (apart from the added cost of baggage). Because of this we decided to skip the overnight bus journey and fly. Checking out of the hotel and killing some time by looking round the nearest shopping mall (and purchasing yet more 'necessary' Muay Thai boxing accessories... The saying, one rule for Jonathan and another rule for me, springs to mind with shopping!!!). It was then finally time to head to the Airport. Much to Jonathans dismay the Airport had no bars! Anyway a short hour long flight and we touched down in Phuket... Where we will spend a couple of weeks while Jonathan models those little Thai boxing shorts again in a hope to become the ultimate Muay Thai champion! Hmmm.... Hayls and Jonathan x